The gin category had a positive year in 2022, despite strong competition from emerging sectors. But which brands were at the helm of its growth?

While 2021 was a turbulent year for the gin sector, with UK exports of gin falling by £30m (US$38.14m) to £541.5m according to His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs data, Euromonitor International reported gin’s total volume increased by 7.7% to 105.2 million nine-litre cases in 2022, and across our million-case sellers, all but last year’s Brand Champion, Tanqueray, witnessed growth.

Pernod Ricard’s gin portfolio delivered a strong performance in the company’s full year 2022 financial results, while Diageo also saw success for its gin brands, with both Tanqueray and Gordon’s reporting double-digit growth in the 12 months to 30 June 2022.

Scroll through to discover the best-selling gins of 2022, listed in order of their nine-litre-case sales.

Data listed is to one decimal place for ease of reading, but the percentage changes are based on the full data supplied to The Brand Champions 2023 report.

8. Gilbey’s

2022: 1.2m

2021: 1.0m

% change: 14.7%

Place last year: 8

Diageo-owned Gilbey’s, which made its Brand Champions debut last year, saw sales soar by 14.7% to reach the 1.2m mark in 2022, a far cry from the four years of stagnant sales the brand saw before and during the pandemic.

The British firm’s total sales across all of its gin brands was up by 18% in fiscal 2022, and the company saw strong growth in the category across Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as ‘broad-based’ gin growth in Europe.

7. Larios

2022: 1.5m

2021: 1.2m

% change: 23.1%

Place last year: 6

Larios, owned by Beam Suntory, climbed by 23.1% last year, returning the Spanish brand to its 2019 volumes of 1.5m cases.

Beam Suntory reported double-digit net sales growth for the first half of 2022, driven by demand for premium brands.

6. Hendrick’s

2022: 1.6m

2021: 1.3m

% change: 17.9%

Place last year: 7

William Grant’s cucumber-infused Hendrick’s saw a 17.9% boost, taking its total to 1.6m case sales for the year. The brand has now recovered and surpassed its pre-pandemic volume of 1.4m cases.

Over the last year, the brand has added a new limited release to its ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’ series, called Hendrick’s Flora Adora. It is said that the brand will now phase out its Hendrick’s Lunar Gin to make way for the new release, and in certain markets, the new expression will sit on shelves alongside both Hendrick’s Neptunia, released in 2022, and Hendrick’s Gin.

5. Seagram’s

2022: 2.5m

2021: 2.4m

% change: 2.5%

Place last year: 5

Standing strong at number five on our list, Seagram’s climbed back up to 2.5m case sales last year, following a 2% downturn the year prior.

Seagram’s owner Pernod Ricard’s ‘speciality brands’ recorded a growth of 18% in its full-year results, with gin up by 43%.

4. Beefeater

2022: 3.8m

2021: 3.3m

% change: 14.5%

Place last year: 4

Sales of Pernod Ricard’s Beefeater jumped by 14.5% to 3.8m cases in 2022, likely aided by the launch of three products: the first, its Zesty Lemon gin, made with ‘the freshest’ lemons from London’s Covent Garden market, which offers a hint of sweetness on the palate with a burst of zesty lemon on the finish.

The launch of Beefeater’s Rhubarb & Cranberry gin followed in the summer, which enhances Beefeater’s botanicals with the slightly richer notes of rhubarb and juicy cranberry.

Finally in the autumn, Pernod Ricard released Beefeater Crown Jewel as a permanent expression in the gin brand’s portfolio. The bottling was first launched as a limited edition gin almost 20 years ago. It comes in a ruby-red bottle, which was inspired by cuts of Crown Jewels at the Tower of London.

3. Tanqueray

2022: 5.5m

2021: 5.6m

% change: -0.4%

Place last year: 2

Last year’s Gin Brand Champion saw the slightest fall from grace in 2022, with a sales dip of 0.4%. Although knocked down a spot on our podium, the Diageo-owned brand hasn’t rested on its laurels over the last year, keeping the momentum of its Unmistakably Tanqueray campaign going, and continuing to harness the power of celebrity to endorse its liquid.

The Devil Wears Prada actor Stanley Tucci continued to back the brand in a series of ads, including one that focused on Tanqueray’s ability to elevate a Martini: “Made with No. Ten, a Martini rises in stature and that’s why bartenders like to use it,” he says in the spot.

2. Bombay Sapphire

2022: 5.7m

2021: 4.4m

% change: 28.0%

Place last year: 3

With sales up by more than 1m cases since 2019, and after seeing strong double-digit growth in 2022, this year’s Gin Brand Champion title has gone to Bombay Sapphire. The gin brand passed the 5m-case sales mark for the first time last year, including its RTD portfolio, overtaking the aforementioned Tanqueray.

Bombay Sapphire’s growth was boosted by the release of Citron Pressé, a lemon-flavoured gin inspired by the Tom Collins cocktail. Bacardi said the new product was a response to the growing demand for citrus flavours. It followed the launch of a lemon-forward gin, Bombay Sapphire Premier Cru, which came out in late 2021.

1. Gordon’s

2022: 7.7m

2021: 7.4m

% change: 3.6%

Place last year: 1

At the top of the other million-case sellers list sits Diageo-owned Gordon’s, which rose by 3.6% to 7.7m.

Last year, Diageo expanded its non-alcoholic offering with the release of a zero-ABV Gordon’s Pink bottling. The brand first moved into pink gin in 2017, with the product selling more than one million cases in its first two years. The non-alcoholic launch was part of the brand’s innovation strategy and followed the release of new products including Gordon’s 0.0%, and flavoured bottlings Tropical Passionfruit and Morello Cherry.